Vijayawada: In a bid to increased occupancy, the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, Vijayawada Region, has reduced the base fare to Rs 5 from existing Rs 8 in metro services and Rs 7 in ordinary city services. Considering the rise in the number of private transport means in the city, the APSRTC has come up with rationalisation of fares, as part of which minimum fares have come down and those of long distances have increased. The APSRTC, which is operating 431 city buses in 115 routes across the city, transports 2,16,137 passengers everyday in the city earning a revenue of Rs 42 lakh on an average with 60 per cent occupancy. It has decided to reduce the minimum fare after a decade. The APSRTC, VIjayawada Region, after considering the results of rationalised fares of city services in Visakhapatnam has took up a similar exercise with regard to Vijayawada city bus services.
Executive director of APSRTC, M. Venkateswara Rao, says that reducing minimum fare was a big move. The APSRTC is facing problems in arranging for small change to the passengers and so we have decided to round off the fare amount, he said. APSRTC regional manager P.V. Rama Rao said the Corporation would incur around Rs 15 lakh loss due to the revision of fare and hoped this will attract more passengers to RTC in the city. He said revised fares will come into force from August 1.
The revised fares are getting mixed response from the public. “We welcome the reduced fares for city services but a majority of the passengers travelling from the city outskirts will be affected by this as they have to travel long distance and shell out more. Only 16 pc passengers travel for short distances in the city buses as per the records of the APSRTC," said Vijayawada Taxpayers Association secretary M.V.S. Anjaneyulu.
